There’s a new Stephen King adaptation to add to your list (you keep a list, right? A really long list?). According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) is in “final talks” to direct The Long Walk for Lionsgate (who just picked up the rights). JT Mollner (Outlaws and Angels) will write the script.
It’s kind of funny that Lawrence is coming off a story about a deadly competition (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) and heading into another story about a deadly competition (though one might hope he will focus on the Constantine sequel first). The Long Walk is a 1979 novel that King wrote as Richard Bachman, and it is about a deadly contest that takes place in a dystopian future. As entertainment, 100 teenage boys go on a very long walk; they must walk at least 4 miles per hour; if they slow down too many times they get shot; the winner gets a lot of money. Or, as the summary on King’s website puts it:
In the near future, where America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. The game is simple—maintain a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings, and you’re out—permanently.
I have questions, naturally, about things like hydration, and food, and bodily functions, but I suspect they’re beside the point.
No casting has been announced just yet.
Buy the Book
Your Shadow Half Remains
